Limited edition of the standard soundtrack that includes an extra DVD with a making of the score documentary.

THE LORD OF THE RINGS: Trilogy Set

2003

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2003
19
71:58
Reprise Records

In 2003, once the trilogy have been completed, the soundtrack was released in a Trilogy Set together with the soundtracks of The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers

REVIEW

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (ENGLISH)

The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Howard Shore). As it happened with The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers, there were repeated the same releases for The Return of the King soundtrack. In this case, The Complete Recordings is formed by 5 discs (one more of those that were forming the editions of both previous movies of the Rigs saga), being 4 discs of CD audio for the soundtrack and the disc 5 is a DVD Audio with Dolby Digital Surround Sound / Dolby Digital Stereo Sound in advanced resolution (48 kHz/24-bit).

The booklet continues being extensive and, since it happened in the previous editions, penetrates into the themes of the main characters and places of the saga, analyzing the themes and illustrating the melodies on the staff. In addition, it includes information of the most exotic instruments used in the movie.

On the other hand, in the web site there is included also The Annotated Score, with a track-by-track analysis, letters of the songs in the languages of the Middle Earth and translated into English, information about the vocalists, the orchestra, the instrumentalists and the instruments associated with a character or place of the story.

Once finished the release of The Lord of the Rings - The Complete Recordings trilogy, we are undoubtedly before the one that possibly is the most wide and exhaustive edition of a soundtrack. And it is well-deserved if we bear in mind the enormous quantity of music composed for the trilogy, the languages of Tolkien adapted for the songs, the multiple instruments used out of the standard orchestra and the quantity of information revealed so much in the booklets that accompany to the proper physical soundtrack, as The Annotated Score documents for each one of three compilations of the Rigs trilogy. Among both, they contribute a quantity of information difficultly equaled for another edition.

Although it is true that the attainment of The Complete Recordings edition comes preceded by a few high sales of the simple soundtracks, as well as of being supported on the firm foundations of the universe created by Tolkien throughout the years, that it already was counting with a multitude of followers, and that they were increased with the projection of Peter Jackson's ambitious trilogy. Not even Star Wars edition of John Williams' score have come so far away in the documentation of George Lucas's musical universe, which demonstrates that, to edit a version with this quantity of detail, it is only necessary to have the will to do it.